How to side-load Google’s own apps onto your Kindle Fire HD

A post-Christmas tip for installing apps like YouTube, Gmail, and Currents.

Whether Santa brought you a new Kindle Fire HD or your old one just needs the dust blown off, holiday down time is the perfect chance to side-load several of Google's apps onto your Amazon tablet without rooting the device. As you may know, the Kindle Fire tablets do not come with the standard suite of Google applications made available to other Android tablets. That can be a bit of a bummer for users who are particularly attached to their Google apps.

Reddit user InnerManRaptor came forward to save the day, posting a step-by-step account on how to side-load Google apps onto the Kindle Fire HD. It includes fiddling with the Kindle’s settings to make side-loading possible, then downloading the APK (Android Package File) files onto your desktop and carefully transferring them over to the device. The APK includes Currents, Maps, Street View, Google Talk, YouTube, and Gmail, though not all the apps work perfectly. While YouTube, Gmail, and Currents work well, Google Maps cannot pinpoint the Kindle Fire HD's location from Wi-Fi as it would on a standard Android device. Additionally, these apps are not the same versions featured with the latest iterations of Android Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. Still, if you ache for the ability to access your Google accounts on your Kindle tablet device, this is a worthy middle-ground without having to trade in the tablet for a Nexus device.

More information about side-loading Google applications on to a Kindle Fire HD is available in the intrepid XDA Developers forums. If you’re also interested in Google Play functionality on your Kindle Fire HD, the folks at Android Authority have a helpful how-to on tweaking the System folder in order to get the Play store working on the 7-inch Fire.

Disclaimer: As always, use caution before downloading files from an unknown source.

Now if we could download apps from google play without having to root the device. I got a Fire HD for Xmas and I keep hitting the artificial barriers Amazon has created. All my Humble Bundle android apps have loaded up fine however.

Now if we could download apps from google play without having to root the device. I got a Fire HD for Xmas and I keep hitting the artificial barriers Amazon has created. All my Humble Bundle android apps have loaded up fine however.

Mine is just the opposite. I keep running into artificial barriers Google has created. Google refused to acknowledge the Kindle Fire HD has an android device.

Now if we could download apps from google play without having to root the device. I got a Fire HD for Xmas and I keep hitting the artificial barriers Amazon has created. All my Humble Bundle android apps have loaded up fine however.

Mine is just the opposite. I keep running into artificial barriers Google has created. Google refused to acknowledge the Kindle Fire HD has an android device.

Google isn't the one refusing to recognize it. Amazon is blocking Google from doing so. Don't shift the blame.

Now if we could download apps from google play without having to root the device. I got a Fire HD for Xmas and I keep hitting the artificial barriers Amazon has created. All my Humble Bundle android apps have loaded up fine however.

Mine is just the opposite. I keep running into artificial barriers Google has created. Google refused to acknowledge the Kindle Fire HD has an android device.

Other than speakers, the Nexus 7 spec wise seems the same or better with no lock to any app stores. They do promote their better WiFi speeds. Alas I do not have a independent source comparing tablets on that.

Now if we could download apps from google play without having to root the device. I got a Fire HD for Xmas and I keep hitting the artificial barriers Amazon has created. All my Humble Bundle android apps have loaded up fine however.

Mine is just the opposite. I keep running into artificial barriers Google has created. Google refused to acknowledge the Kindle Fire HD has an android device.

Google isn't the one refusing to recognize it. Amazon is blocking Google from doing so. Don't shift the blame.

Shifting the blame? How so? Is there an article out that explains why the Kindle Fire HD cannot load apps from Google Play?

This is very, very similar to the method for side-loading apps to the new Nooks -- which B&N has documented in their developer docs. Interestingly, the Nook method turns out to work on the older Nooks as well.

It's good to see these proprietary devices aren't *quite* as locked down as they seem.

Now if we could download apps from google play without having to root the device. I got a Fire HD for Xmas and I keep hitting the artificial barriers Amazon has created. All my Humble Bundle android apps have loaded up fine however.

Mine is just the opposite. I keep running into artificial barriers Google has created. Google refused to acknowledge the Kindle Fire HD has an android device.

Google isn't the one refusing to recognize it. Amazon is blocking Google from doing so. Don't shift the blame.

Shifting the blame? How so? Is there an article out that explains why the Kindle Fire HD cannot load apps from Google Play?

on a different note ... there's a Nexus 10 out now ...

its amazon that made an limited None 3G tablet, really you better off just getting an real Certified Android tablet and install amazon software from the market with the option to buy one with 3G (i see no point in having one with out 3G but thats just me)

Now if we could download apps from google play without having to root the device. I got a Fire HD for Xmas and I keep hitting the artificial barriers Amazon has created. All my Humble Bundle android apps have loaded up fine however.

Mine is just the opposite. I keep running into artificial barriers Google has created. Google refused to acknowledge the Kindle Fire HD has an android device.

Google isn't the one refusing to recognize it. Amazon is blocking Google from doing so. Don't shift the blame.

Shifting the blame? How so? Is there an article out that explains why the Kindle Fire HD cannot load apps from Google Play?

Technically you're pirating those apps, since you don't have a license to use them, and officially Google prohibits the use of their software on devices that don't meet the minimum hardware requirements for Android. So I'm not sure its really fair to blame Google for not helping your pirate software more efficiently. They basically ignore people doing this for non-commercial purposes, but you're still on your own for actually making it work.

This is very, very similar to the method for side-loading apps to the new Nooks -- which B&N has documented in their developer docs. Interestingly, the Nook method turns out to work on the older Nooks as well.

It's good to see these proprietary devices aren't *quite* as locked down as they seem.

This is also similar to how you get .apk files for the Blackberry Playbook, though an extra step is involved to do the .bar conversion. If you have any android device handy, you can just use it to get apk files, then transfer to "less official" android devices.

Are there any 1/2 decent Android tablet available that doesn't cost a mortgage payment?

I picked up a refurbished Acer A200 for $125 about 3 months ago. Tegra2 w/ a 10" screen that is perfect for my needs (web surfing, reading books and comics, a bit of gaming).Pros: Cheap, microSD and USB expandable, Google Play supported, charges quickly, 8 to 10 hour battery life Cons: Screen resolution not the greatest (not terrible, but no one is going to mistake it for an ipad), no rear camera and the front facing camera is terrible, speaker volume on the low side, proprietary charging cable

I got Nexus 7's for both of my kids (9 and 12) thinking they were a better choice. I still think that, but my daughter just asked for me to load Skylanders Cloud Patrol on her tablet. Hmmm. Not availble on Google Play. Seems to be a Kindle only app right now. Grrrr. Time to do some searching to see if I can get this loaded...

Technically you are if you downloaded any of the APKs mentioned in this article. Since you said you tried to run the Play store . . .

I read over my posts in this thread .... haven't seen anything about trying to run the play store ...

Oh I assumed that by "Google refused to acknowledge the Kindle Fire HD has an android device" you had tried to actually run some of their software on it.

Oh hell no. I browse to their site on the kindle, log into my google account, and get that error message. I did, however, make the incorrect assumption that because the google site provided that error, that it was google's end, not Amazons ...

Google Play does not recognize the Kindle Fire because Amazon chose not to let the Kindle Fire family work with Google Play. You can root the Kindle Fire (any generation\model) and gain access to Google Play.

I have sideloaded some apps, without rooting, but the persistent Google account isn't working 100%.

I got Nexus 7's for both of my kids (9 and 12) thinking they were a better choice. I still think that, but my daughter just asked for me to load Skylanders Cloud Patrol on her tablet. Hmmm. Not availble on Google Play. Seems to be a Kindle only app right now. Grrrr. Time to do some searching to see if I can get this loaded...

I got Nexus 7's for both of my kids (9 and 12) thinking they were a better choice. I still think that, but my daughter just asked for me to load Skylanders Cloud Patrol on her tablet. Hmmm. Not availble on Google Play. Seems to be a Kindle only app right now. Grrrr. Time to do some searching to see if I can get this loaded...

John

This is one of the fustrations I've been dealing with in regards to the Nexus 7 I got for my husband. You would think that the flagship 7" tablet from Google would get supported for games first but, nope, guess again. The only guess I have is that developers have been VERY slow to patch their current titles for the device's specific resolution and layout. Either that or they just simply don't care to support it which boggles my mind.

None of this wishy-washy BS where if the moons are in the proper alignment, your device is supported by Google Play, if you are running the correct firmware, and you have a CPU/GPU that will run it effectively. This is a tablet for Goddess sakes and not some PC where you have to figure out the system requirements before you even can figure out if your tablet will run it or not. Apps should just simply work, with each one denoting what devices it supports, so that people can just move on with their day instead of trying to figure out why a particular app does'nt work or just does not appear at all. I'm baffled as to why this is so complicated with a platform that everyone seems to adore.

The biggest enemy for Android is itself and the developers who treat the platform like it's Halloween where you can either get tricked or treated depending upon your device.

Google Play does not recognize the Kindle Fire because Amazon chose not to let the Kindle Fire family work with Google Play. You can root the Kindle Fire (any generation\model) and gain access to Google Play.

I have sideloaded some apps, without rooting, but the persistent Google account isn't working 100%.

This is not technically correct. Amazon does not block any competing app stores from being installed on the Kindle Fire. In fact, you can go download and install several, for example GetJar and they will install on the device, and install apps from their stores without an issue.

Google, however, has made Google Play reliant on underlying services that are not part of the OSS install of Android, thus making thier store incompatible with any devices they decline to certify. As they have chosen not to certify the Kindle Fire, Google Play will not function on the Fire without hacking the device. This was a decision Google chose to make, and it applies to a lot of devices, not only Amazon's.

To be clear, Amazon did *nothing* to block Play from being installed like any other app store, many of which can be installed on the Fire just fine.

yea what a joke, amazon of course wants to have their cake and eat it too. not sure how they feel justified offering amazon apps to all of droid while walling off kindles. this got me all excited, then I realised it was only for local apk. if we can do that, shouldn't there be a way to get the marketplace working without a root as well? the kindle started out pretty awsome, until I figured out they were actively preventing google apps from being run on this thing. I know it can easily be rooted, but I don't want to give up the amazon freebies either.

reflex-croft wrote:

Mday wrote:

Google Play does not recognize the Kindle Fire because Amazon chose not to let the Kindle Fire family work with Google Play. You can root the Kindle Fire (any generation\model) and gain access to Google Play.

I have sideloaded some apps, without rooting, but the persistent Google account isn't working 100%.

This is not technically correct. Amazon does not block any competing app stores from being installed on the Kindle Fire. In fact, you can go download and install several, for example GetJar and they will install on the device, and install apps from their stores without an issue.

Google, however, has made Google Play reliant on underlying services that are not part of the OSS install of Android, thus making thier store incompatible with any devices they decline to certify. As they have chosen not to certify the Kindle Fire, Google Play will not function on the Fire without hacking the device. This was a decision Google chose to make, and it applies to a lot of devices, not only Amazon's.

To be clear, Amazon did *nothing* to block Play from being installed like any other app store, many of which can be installed on the Fire just fine.

disengenuous at best. and why would google choose not to certify another android device? because it lacks the necessary apis that are required for them to function in their marketplace, which amazon is in total control of. if amazon wanted kindles to run google apps, they would have installed it without the need for rooting, thus losing free amazon services you can only get from registered kindles on ics.

Shannara wrote:

coder543 wrote:

Shannara wrote:

KidSizedCoffin wrote:

Now if we could download apps from google play without having to root the device. I got a Fire HD for Xmas and I keep hitting the artificial barriers Amazon has created. All my Humble Bundle android apps have loaded up fine however.

Mine is just the opposite. I keep running into artificial barriers Google has created. Google refused to acknowledge the Kindle Fire HD has an android device.

Google isn't the one refusing to recognize it. Amazon is blocking Google from doing so. Don't shift the blame.

Shifting the blame? How so? Is there an article out that explains why the Kindle Fire HD cannot load apps from Google Play?

I got Nexus 7's for both of my kids (9 and 12) thinking they were a better choice. I still think that, but my daughter just asked for me to load Skylanders Cloud Patrol on her tablet. Hmmm. Not availble on Google Play. Seems to be a Kindle only app right now. Grrrr. Time to do some searching to see if I can get this loaded...

John

This is one of the fustrations I've been dealing with in regards to the Nexus 7 I got for my husband. You would think that the flagship 7" tablet from Google would get supported for games first but, nope, guess again. The only guess I have is that developers have been VERY slow to patch their current titles for the device's specific resolution and layout. Either that or they just simply don't care to support it which boggles my mind.

None of this wishy-washy BS where if the moons are in the proper alignment, your device is supported by Google Play, if you are running the correct firmware, and you have a CPU/GPU that will run it effectively. This is a tablet for Goddess sakes and not some PC where you have to figure out the system requirements before you even can figure out if your tablet will run it or not. Apps should just simply work, with each one denoting what devices it supports, so that people can just move on with their day instead of trying to figure out why a particular app does'nt work or just does not appear at all. I'm baffled as to why this is so complicated with a platform that everyone seems to adore.

The biggest enemy for Android is itself and the developers who treat the platform like it's Halloween where you can either get tricked or treated depending upon your device.

.... what?

Android Fragmentation. The similar reason why most developers refuse to port their apps and games to Linux.

How do we get apps from Google Play, if all you have is a Kindle Fire? Google claims no android device on file .. thus, won't permit you to download apps ..

DISREGARD, this is for Google's own apps, not apps from the Google Play store.

My reading comprehension fail from Christmas food comatose.

Root it, install the framework, install the play store app.I personally found my Kindle HD useless until I did this since the Amazon app store has less than 10% of the apps I use on my other Android devices.

I got Nexus 7's for both of my kids (9 and 12) thinking they were a better choice. I still think that, but my daughter just asked for me to load Skylanders Cloud Patrol on her tablet. Hmmm. Not availble on Google Play. Seems to be a Kindle only app right now. Grrrr. Time to do some searching to see if I can get this loaded...

John

Is it a Kindle "optimized" app, or just in the Amazon app store? Because if it's in the Amazon app store you can install that on the Nexus devices just fine.

that is awesome ... which rooting/mod did you use? Im looking at doing this on the old kindle fire, and the new HD models.

For the HD I used this method to root. I don't remember which Play store install method I ended up using, I know some of the ones out there for the HD installed the old app store app which doesn't work for everything.

disengenuous at best. and why would google choose not to certify another android device? because it lacks the necessary apis that are required for them to function in their marketplace, which amazon is in total control of. if amazon wanted kindles to run google apps, they would have installed it without the need for rooting, thus losing free amazon services you can only get from registered kindles on ics.

How is this disingenuous? Google chose to make the Play store reliant on non-OSS components that they maintain control over. Again, other third party stores function just right on a Fire, any APK can be installed, it is *only* Google Play that does not. Google has taken steps against anyone who chooses to install those API's on thier devices without permission, as they did against Cyogenmond(which as a result now has to package them seperately).

The entire situation is frustrating, Google could be expanding the reach of the Play store onto devices such as this(as well as lots of cheaper asian tablets) but instead has to maintain iron fisted control of thier apps and marketplace.

Florence Ion / Florence was a former Reviews Editor at Ars, with a focus on Android, gadgets, and essential gear. She received a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area.